


All the Repentance We have Left

by ludulfiantimes15



Category: Sky High (2005)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 06:55:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12405303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ludulfiantimes15/pseuds/ludulfiantimes15
Summary: The sidekicks have begun to rebel in the aftermath of the Sky High Prom. Will and Layla are blinded to the prejudice all around them, and Magenta and Ethan become leaders of the revolt, aided by Warren.





	1. Chapter 1

Jamie walked through the empty rubble- filled hallways, searching for his hero, gone missing in the battle against Royal Pain. He hesitated, then slowly pushed open the door of the high school lab room. The room was lighter than he thought it would be; the chaos of upturned tables and splintered glass test tubes was somehow made peaceful by the moonlight, which flowed silver over everything. He looked at the laser diagrams still plastered on the walls and relaxed: there was no blood here, no bodies.

He slowed, the panic from the recent attack subsiding, and went over to the window, over to where the black infinite sky beckoned. He felt his mind clear for what felt like the first time in years, and he sighed, hands resting on the windowsill. The table near him had been there for years; he remembered working at it when he was just a freshmen sidekick in training. 

He had been in the chemistry class for heroes because he was skilled, but he was still treated with contempt by all of his classmates; as a only a sidekick, he was a waste of class materials, because when would he use them? He wouldn't fight evil, get written about in the papers. He would be, at best, a valued shadow. 

Despite all of the disparaging remarks, Jamie's love for chemistry made the class tolerable, if not amazing. He spent his time in the back of the classroom, trying not to take up space. The first time he met his hero, he was working quietly by himself, only looking up when the door burst open, and he stormed through.The hero who would become known as RomCom, famous and beloved by thousands, then only known as Jax, had demanded a pass from the teacher. His talent was the ability to make anyone fall in love with him, to bewitch them with only a glance of his flashing black eyes. Even when he wasn't using his power, he was mesmerizing, with his long curling black hair and full lips; imperious as he was, he was bewitching. 

So the entire class had stared that first day, and no one had noticed when Jamie’s beaker was knocked over by a classmate who had grown increasingly flustered as she attempted to gain Jax’s attention. The boiling solution had immediately spread, burning Jamie’s left hand,and marring the lab tables top with a great black welt. At the time, the pain was so overwhelming that Jamie couldn't even cry out. No one around him noticed, absorbed as they were in Jax, so he had sat, clutching his hand to his chest in agony. But Jax had stared at him with his unreadable expression, and kept staring at him as he grabbed the pass from the teacher, and then he had said in his slow voice, “that sidekick is burning,” and left the room at a saunter, his gaze still lingering on the flushing, pained Jamie.

Jamie had been left with confused memories of overwhelming pain and flashing black eyes. A day after that, Jax had requested Jamie to be his sidekick, and Jamie had served him ever since. But that had been the beginning, this lab room, his long ago giddiness and pain. Now, seven years later, he was back. He looked again at the table and the corresponding welt on his hand. It was fitting that he was standing here; his life as a sidekick began here. It was going to end here as well.


	2. Jamie Runs Away

His desire to leave had not come out of nowhere. It wasn't just due to RomCom’s treatment of him; the controlling and condescending ways. In those, RomCom wasn’t much different than any other hero; Laser Beam had gotten his sidekick Froggers hospitalized by using the frog man for target practice, and everyone had heard the story of how the Commander had abandoned his sidekick the instant he met Jetstream. Kicked him out of his bed and out of his life. The poor man was still hanging around like a pathetic dog. Jamie shuddered as he remembered how All American Boy had showed that damn scrapbook he made of his and the Commander’s exploits to all the sidekicks he met. He had to be hospitalized for a nervous breakdown when he met the Commander’s kid. And after all that, the fool was still just as in love. 

Sidekicks never got respect or acknowledgment. They were treated as lesser, meant to give their meager everything to any hero that showed interest. They were told that they were lesser everyday.

But he wasn't just his inadequate talent.  
He was a human. He had rights, dignity. He curled his fingers around the windowsill and stared out at the stars. “I’m done,” he whispered to himself. And as he exhaled slowly, the shapeshifter student he remembered from the battle barged in, “Jamie, there aren't any baby heroes in here, are there?” She asked impatiently. “I heard you were looking for your Romeo hero.” Jamie, startled, turned around, “You know me? Aren't you a student?” 

“Yes,” she replied, “I'm Magenta. RomCom is famous, but you’re sidekick famous. You were the first sidekick to be in a hero class, and we heard you were the best student researcher in the pioneer super gene research before giving up to become a working sidekick.” 

Jamie blushed, “I...yeah, it was a long time ago. Anyway, have all the heroes been rescued? RomCom went missing in the battle.” 

“You don't seem to be too concerned,” she said softly. Jamie got a bit redder under her scrutiny, and adjusted his glasses. She continued, still gazing at him, “They found an adorable baby with the most beautiful dazzling black eyes under the auditorium stage. He's in line to be aged up right now.” Jamie stiffened,“How long would it take for-”

“For him to become RomCom again? Or for him to find you? Either way, you've probably got about half an hour with the all the confusion.” She paused, still searching his face in the moonlight. “You were my role model. The reason I never gave up pride, even as a sidekick. If you take the back stairs and use one of the teacher teleporters, you could be gone without anyone noticing.” Jamie met her gaze squarely, “ How did you know?” She laughed humorlessly, “I'm a sidekick too.” 

“Thank you,” he grinned, and the wild joy in his face made Magenta breathless, the brilliant way it transformed his face. She swallowed, and stared at him, outlined as he was against the stars for only an instant, before he ran through the door, and she heard his steps fade into the distance. But it was a long time before she left the room, deep in thought.


	3. Chapter 3

The whispers had begun in the city's high schools, as small dark furled things. Ever since the sidekicks had been publicly acknowledged as the defeaters of Royal Pain, there had been a strained atmosphere, an attempt to gloss over that night, when heroes had cowered and sidekicks stood strong. Will and Layla had easily emerged as the most popular couple; everyone was comfortable adoring their powers, their perfection. Layla had been moved from Sidekick classes to the Hero curriculum, and she didn't protest the change too much, absorbed in Will and their perfect romance. But the sidekicks were a much different story; they were met with uneasy silence, and in some cases, even more bullying from heroes who needed to reinforce the pecking order. 

Magenta had kept quiet, let herself be the token sidekick at Will and Layla’s crowded lunch table, slapped a placid look on during school assemblies. But all the while, she was thinking, thinking of a quiet lab room, of stars and freedom, of all the choices there really were. She gained the reputation of an ideal sidekick in six months, once she changed her surly demeanor, and started co writing gushing feel good articles about life as a sidekick for the school newspaper with Ethan. She kept her purple streaks though; they gave her strength and anchored her to herself. When Freeze Girl and Penny (let back in Sky High on the grounds that she had been badly influenced and sadly led astray) started offering her positions as their future sidekick, she knew she had succeeded. Her friends had accepted this change easily; Will and Layla with poorly concealed relief, Zack, oblivious. She remembered dancing with him, and asking him how he felt about sidekicks under the swaying lights. His face had lit up, and he had answered, “Sidekicks rule! Man, one day I wanna work with Will.” He still had feelings for her, but sometimes, when he looked at her now, he seemed puzzled, trying to search her face for something that wasn't there. 

Ethan knew though. She told him everything, about her plan, and the night she saved the sidekick Jamie. Together, they were gradually and quietly forming their rebellion. Warren knew also. He had always been able to see through her, and he had been resisting the Sky High system from the moment the school doors slammed behind him. Though Will and Layla still claimed Warren as a best friend, and pretended that the sidekicks were still important to them, the three rebels had become a tight band, almost untouchable.


End file.
